Fall Pest Management Seminar in Dallas

Everyone needs a day of training to keep sharp. Why not have
fun at the same time, and join us on November 2?

Registration is now open for the Fall Pest Management Seminar, sponsored by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. This is one of the most convenient and cost-effective ways to get your pesticide applicator CEUs in the Dallas area.  To register, go to our AgriLife Conference Registration site.  Early registration is still only $70, and includes lunch.

One big change this year is our location. This meeting, and all training meetings in the foreseeable future will be held at a new address, the Richardson Civic Center. It's a very nice facility and no more hard yellow chairs!  We hope you'll join us and check it out.

The class is designed for commercial and non-commercial applicators with turf and ornamental-oriented licences. Continuing education credits will count for both Structural and Agricultural license holders.  This year's course and speakers includes:

• Review of the latest Ag and Structural Pesticide Laws and Regulations by Allison Cuellar. Yes, not the most interesting subject, but Allison knows her stuff and will keep you on your toes.
• Rodent Management by Janet Hurley. Many of you know Janet from her many talks on school IPM and Laws and regs; but she is a rat catcher on the side.  
• Gary Brooks with Bayer Crop Sciences will present an update on common turfgrass pests. Gary is an entomologist by training and loves sharing pictures and stories about the pest problems he encounters.
• Raymond Miller with Dow Agrosciences will cover "Best Management Practices for Weeds". Raymond brings years of experience with weeds to help you do a better job managing tough weeds.
• Dr. Frank Wong, also with Bayer Crop Sciences is a plant pathologist, but has recently been involved with Bayer's pollinator protections efforts.  He will offer suggestions on designing your IPM program to better protect honey bees and other pollinators.  

Brochures with maps and detailed registration and program information are available at the registration website, or by clicking here. 

Fall IPM Seminar in Dallas November 6

Rose rosette disease is one of the subjects being
discussed at this year's IPM Seminar

Fall is here, and so is time for our annual Fall Integrated Pest management Seminar held at the Dallas Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center. This program is one I've been involved with since the early 1990s, and I and the staff at A&M take special pride in trying to put together programs with qualified speakers talking on topics that are fresh and not the same old thing every year.

Our goal is to help you to learn things that you will actually be able to put to work in your daily profession as a pesticide applicator.  As always you will receive five CEU credits for the day.  The CEUs are good for either structural or agriculture (3A) licenses. The focus of this training is traditionally on pests of turf and ornamentals; but if you work for a pest control company that does T&O work, you should find this training very useful and appropriate.

This year's speakers include:

• Janet Hurley providing information about changes coming to EPA labels;
• Dr. Matt Elmore, will tell us how to tackle tough Texas weeds;
• Laura Miller, horticulture agent from Tarrant County, will discuss the relatively new rose rosette disease and its management;  
• My long-time colleague, Dr. Allen Knutson, will provide some background on how biological control has been used in outdoor IPM programs for both insects and weeds;
• and I will discuss the often tough problem of scale insects and their control.

Over 300 people typically attend the Fall IPM Seminar each
year for the good speakers, CEUs and a good lunch
(in that order, we hope).

I'm especially pleased this year to be able to introduce Dr. Matt Elmore as our new turfgrass specialist, following the retirement last year of Dr. Jim McAfee.  Matt knows he's got big shoes to fill, but is ready and eager to meet all of you in the industry and learn about the challenges of turfgrass management in our part of the country. If any of you get the chance to meet him anytime soon, give him a warm Texas welcome.

Online registration is open for this year's class at https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/ipm. Just click on Fall  IPM Seminar for online registration.  You can download a copy of the program brochure at the Conference Registration page, or by clicking here. 

Spring IPM Conference in Dallas

It's hard to believe that the Spring IPM conference is just around the corner.  But in just a little over the month we'll be offering our annual
Spring CEU conference at the Dallas Center.  Speakers this year include Ross Eckstein (Mastering fire Ant Control), Laura Miller (Rose rosette disease and its management demystified), Dr. Casey Reynolds (Sprayer Calibration to Maximize Your Weed Control), Janet Hurley (Pesticide regulatory update), and me talking about Neonicotinoid insecticides and the environment: What you need to know. Talks will provide CEUs for both Structural and TDA in General (Pest, L&O, Weed), Laws and Regs, and General (IPM).

Early registration is $70, and it includes a meal.  In addition to the five presentations, there will be an outdoor sprayer demonstration and a short update on a new pest, spotted wing Drosophila, by our new Extension program specialist, Mr. Erfan Vafaie.

So if you want to get an early start for 2014 on your continuing education, this is the best place to come. To register, go to AgriLife registration site.   For a copy of the brochure with more program information and directions, click here.

Registration for Fall IPM Seminar now open

Environmental issues are a frequent
topic at Fall IPM Seminar events.

If you're a structural pest management professional (PMP) or carry a pesticide applicator's license for landscape pest management, the Fall IPM Seminar is an excellent opportunity to get your annual continuing education credits.  This is approximately the 24th year that I've been involved with the program and it's always a good day for learning.

This year's seminar will be held at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas on Tuesday, November 26.  We have an excellent lineup of speakers covering some useful and timely topics. Besides myself (speaking on Neonicotinoid insecticides and the environment), the lineup includes Dr. Don Renchie (Pesticide Regulatory Updates), Mike Swan (Honey bee biology and control), Sam Hill (Tree Pest Control), and Dr. Casey Reynolds (Sprayer calibration to maximize your weed control).  Talks will provide CEUs for both Structural and TDA in General (Pest, L&O, Weed), Laws and Regs, and General (IPM).

Early registration, before November 22 is $70, which includes lunch.  Registration at the door is $85.  For a brochure, click here.  Early registration is available online only, by clicking here. Payment can be made via check, money order, credit card or invoice (must have a purchase order number).  Questions should be directed to Sharon Harris at the number listed on the brochure.

We work very hard to make these programs relevant and interesting, always with something new and delivered by people who know their subjects. So join us in November.  It will be worth your time.

Spring Pest Management Training 2013

Skunk and armadillo control is one of the topics covered in
this spring's pest management training.

I thought I would share an upcoming training opportunity that might be of interest to Insects in the City readers around north Texas. Next week, March 7, is the Spring Pest Management Seminar at the Texas A&M AgriLife Center at Dallas. This year's program should be a good one, and (if you need it) will provide you with all the CEUs you need for another year, whether you are a certified non-commercial applicator through TDA, or licensed through the Structural Pest Control Service with categories in pest control, turf and ornamental, and weed control.

This year's speakers include Janet Hurley, providing an update on the new pyrethroid rules, Charles Adams with Sherman ISD speaking on skunk and armadillo control, Ross Eckstein from Syngenta covering weed control, Dr. John Rowland with Bayer Environmental Science talking about insects of urban landscapes, and me, talking about mosquito control.  Three of our speakers are new to the seminar series, so this will be a great opportunity to get fresh insights and new IPM information.  I'm especially interested in the skunk and armadillo talk from Charles Adams.  Charles has many years of experience in school IPM and running his own wildlife control business. I've listened to Charles teach, and he really knows his wildlife.

Registration is online and can be accessed here--type in keywords "Spring IPM".  For a copy of the program brochure, click here.  Cost is $70 if you get your application in by March 4, otherwise it's $85 at the door.  Lunch (brisquet and chicken BBQ) is provided.  Hope to see you there.

Structural Pest Control Service Winter Update

Whether companies who provide canine bed bug and termite
sniffing services should be licensed or require certification
was a topic of discussion at the January Advisory Committee
meeting.

The Structural Pest Control Advisory Committee met today after a (literally) stormy day in Austin--and I don't mean politics.  Yesterday brought some wet relief to parched central and north Texas, as well as rare winter tornadoes in several communities.

Today's committee meeting was mostly uneventful in terms of actions; however some interesting topics were introduced that should lead to follow-up discussions in later meetings.  The meeting started off with a moment of silence for Bill Stepan, our committee member who passed away in November. David Kostroun then led the committee through responses to the Self-Assessment Questionnaire that we were asked to fill at the end of the year.

Priorities for the Committee
One of the priorities for the coming year that some respondents mentioned was better communication with the public about pest control issues and how to help the public find answers to questions about pest control, the reliability of pest control businesses, and pesticides.  Tommy Kezar noted that the TDA website formerly allowed visitors to view regulatory actions to see what companies had been recently cited or fined for violations.  This page is no longer view-able on the agency's new home page. In fact, apart from information on how to file a structural pest control complaint, there is relatively little useful pest control-related information for consumers on the new consumer protection site.  Given that the site is new, I trust that this will change.  One feature I always found useful was the ability to check a company's license information to assure myself that it was operating with a valid license.  I hope this feature is restored.

Kezar also noted a couple of cases that he has seen where license renewals have been held up because of problems with background checks. Department staff were, allegedly, not very helpful in responding to efforts by licensees to discover the particulars about why a background check failed.  Chief Administrator Kostroun promised to look into procedures for responding to such requests for information.

Performance Data for SPCS
Stephen Pahl, Administrator for the Consumer Protection Division of TDA (the new division that houses structural pest control) gave a brief presentation on data that the agency is required to report to the LBB (Legislative Budget Board). The data includes statistics on numbers of new business and individual licenses issued, complaints resolved and inspections conducted each quarter.  Some of the more interesting numbers for the Sep-Dec Quarter included:

• 275 SPC business inspections were conducted in the fall of 2011 (slightly exceeded target goals).
• 45 complaints were resolved that resulted in a formal enforcement action (more than double the target goal).
• The 43 non-commercial establishment inspections (hotels, restaurants, local governments, etc.) was about a third of the target for the quarter; however staff attribute this to the priority they have placed on conducting school IPM inspections and some difficulties with new schedule-optimization software. 
• 139 schools were inspected, representing nearly 70% of the schools scheduled for inspection in the year.  I understood that the rate of quarterly school inspections will likely taper off this year as software improvements are made to rebalance the scheduling of commercial and non-commercial establishments over the next few months.
• Although quarterly data on school compliance rates for FY 2012 were not available, last year 52.4% of Texas schools were found to be in (complete) compliance during inspections. This metric, however, gives little insight in to the type or significance of non-compliance issues found by inspectors.
• Complaint case sufficiency rate is the percent of cases sent to Austin from local SPCS inspectors that ultimately are approved for enforcement action.  A high sufficiency rate indicates that inspectors are not submitting many frivolous or unenforceable cases.  This year's sufficiency rate was 92%.

School IPM Coordinator CEUs

Michael Kelly noted that the Department will be prioritizing the effort to publish formal rules for the new school IPM Coordinator CEU requirement imposed by Sunset committee action two years ago. To refresh your memory, as of January 1, 2011 School IPM Coordinators are required to obtain 6 CEU hours on pest control, pesticide and IPM-related topics every three years.  We are now 13 months into the three year period, and rules for how this system will work have not yet been published.  Kelly handed out the draft rule which specifies that only one of the six hours must be in laws and regulations specific to IPM programs in schools (I have stated in the past that I think this is inadequate, but won't go into that today).  What is still missing from the rules, however, is a mechanism for approval of the school IPM laws and regs CEU, and specific instructions for when CEUs will be due.  It was suggested that there may need to be a new CEU category for School IPM rules and regulations. The committee agreed that coordinators who were certified prior to Jan 2011 should be required to complete their six hours by Dec 2013.  Newer coordinators should be required to get their 6 hours within three years of taking their initial 6 hour orientation course (which they must take within six months of appointment as IPMC). Presumably the Department will be publishing new rules for public review within the next quarter.

Should Bed Bug Dogs be Licensed?

One of the most interesting discussions was a review of some information collected by Leslie Smith on bed bug dog certification, and discussion about whether dog handlers should be licensed.  While no one is actually proposing that dogs be licensed, handlers and companies who provide dog-sniffing services appear to be another matter.  The committee asked if Kelly would come up with some proposals on possible licensing options so that the issue could be discussed more rigorously, and recommendations formalized by the committee at the next advisory committee meeting.

Agency Legal Staff

Deputy General Counsel for Enforcement, David Gipson, reported that the SPCS has been without an official attorney for several months. It has been difficult, he said, to find qualified lawyers willing to work for the salary offered by TDA. As a result, legal work for SPCS has been divided among three TDA legal staff. According to Gipson, this has the added advantage of minimizing the impact on SPCS programs when an attorney leaves for any reason.

The next committee meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 26. The SPCS is receiving applications for positions on the advisory committee, especially the two open seats for industry and a consumer position. If interested, you should contact Michael Kelly.

Fall Pest Management Seminar 2010

The annual Fall Pest Management Seminar will be held next month on November 9th at the Texas AgriLife Research & Extension Center at Dallas.  Speakers this year include Janet Hurley (IPM Business Practices), Jim McAfee (Weed Control), Mark Evans (Laws and Regulations Update), Kevin Ong (Tree Disease Control) and myself (Stinging and biting pests).  Cost of the program is $60 for registrations made before November 3, and $75 at the door.  Registrations should be made online  Texas AgriLife's Conference Services (use the registration keyword IPM).  This is a great program for anyone in the Dallas/Fort Worth area who needs TDA or structural pesticide applicator certification CEUs. 

Get CEUs at the Fall 2009 Pest Management Seminar

Registration for the 2009 Fall Pest Management Seminar has begun. This seminar is an annual event, traditionally held at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas. This year, because we have outgrown our facilities at the AgriLife Center, we will be holding the program in Plano, Texas at Chase Oaks Church on Legacy Dr and Hwy 75. Also, we are offering online registration for the first time. All registrations must be completed online, or via phone with the AgriLife Conference Services. With the new registration system we can also offer more payment options, including check, invoice, or credit card.

The focus of the Pest Management Seminar series (offered in the fall and spring) is on landscape pest management. This seminar's topics include updates on changes in pesticide laws for applicators (TDA and SPCS), insect biology for pesticide applicators, weed control update, diagnosing oak wilt and other tree diseases, and using IPM for turfgrass disease management. Last year's registration was approximately 400 applicators, so if you are interested you should make your reservations soon. Oh, and did I mention that a nice catered lunch is part of your registration?

If you maintain a structural pesticide applicator license, and need weed and L&O CEUs, this is a great place to get them. If you normally get your CEUs from programs that focus on structural pest control, this seminar can provide you with a fresh perspective and a chance to meet new faces. For registration and more information, visit our website at http://urbansolutionscenter.tamu.edu/hot-topics/ipm-seminar.aspx We hope to see you there.